A.LOEWENSTEIN ONLINE NEWSLETTER

• Zionist lobbyist just wants an Israel that changes nothing
• There’s nothing to talk about with these compromised players
• Obama recognises demography in Mid-East but refuses to heed lessons
• The glories of New Labour (who liked some torture after supper)
• Hearing the calls from Hoder deep inside Iran
• Petraeus believes in forever conflict
• International SOS just here to help refugees
• Thanks for clarifying, Tel Aviv
• Here’s your future Palestinian state

Zionist lobbyist just wants an Israel that changes nothing  23 Sep 2010 A Zionist lobbyist in Australia whinges about being under any media spotlight. The poor dear. Frankly, the media should be far more inquisitive about his actions, his relationship with the current Labor government and what kind of Israel he really wants (perhaps he’d like to be asked his views on the settler movement and Jewish fundamentalism. Silence, of course): Albert Dadon says he told Tim Mathieson to resign from a sales job at his property firm as soon as Julia Gillard became Prime Minister. The prominent property developer and political fundraiser, who has been criticised for his close ties with the Labor Party, denies Mr Mathieson left his firm because of any potential conflict of interest. He said instead Ms Gillard’s partner left to avoid any “unfair” targeting by The Age after the newspaper reported that Mr Mathieson had been working for Mr Dadon at his Melbourne firm. The businessman, who also has close ties to the Jewish community and established the Australia-Israel Leadership Forum, said The Age had portrayed him and the relationship he had with Labor unfairly. “I gave Tim the advice to resign as soon as it was clear Julia would be the next Prime Minister,” he told The Australian. “Not because there was any conflict of interest that would result by his employment in my company, but simply because The Age made sure that employing a bloke who is the partner of the PM is a controversy, given my non-for-profit activities and in particular my advocacy for a strong bilateral relation between Israel and Australia.” He said he raised money for both Liberal and Labor during the election — a “small amount” of $30,00 to $50,000 — and was not getting favours from either the state or federal Labor government. Mr Dadon said he met Mr Mathieson at a function with Ms Gillard three years ago and they had formed a friendship. He said he had advised his friend on a number of things, including whether he should take on the men’s health ambassador role.

There’s nothing to talk about with these compromised players  23 Sep 2010 Leading BDS proponent Omar Barghouti dismisses the futile “peace talks” currently embraced by the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the US:

Obama recognises demography in Mid-East but refuses to heed lessons  23 Sep 2010 This is thoroughly depressing. Here’s Barack Obama speaking to the UN on the Israel/Palestine conflict, lacking imagination and foresight and repeating all the mistakes of the last two decades. Washington is utterly incapable and unwilling to imagine a region free from Zionist oppression and occupation. And demography is only going in the Palestinian’s favour: U.S. President Barack Obama is due to speak at the United Nations’ annual ministerial meeting in New York on Thursday afternoon, and express the urgency for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. “If an agreement is not reached, Palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state. Israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors who are committed to co-existence,” Obama will tell the UN General Assembly, according to excerpts released ahead of his planned speech on Thursday. “The hard realities of demography will take hold. More blood will be shed. This Holy Land will remain a symbol of our differences, instead of our common humanity.” Obama expressed deep hope in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the imminent establishment of a Palestinian state. “When we come back here next year, we [could] have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations – an independent state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.” The U.S. president defended Israel’s right to exist, and expressed the United States’ support for its ally. “Those who long to see an independent Palestine rise must stop trying to tear Israel down,” Obama said. “Israel’s existence must not be a subject for debate. Israel is a sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people,” Obama said. “It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.” Obama condemned the bloodshed surrounding the conflict, and lauded Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for engaging in talks instead of violence. “And efforts to threaten or kill Israelis will do nothing to help the Palestinian people – the slaughter of innocent Israelis is not resistance, it is injustice. Make no mistake: the courage of a man like President Abbas – who stands up for his people in front of the world – is far greater than those who fire rockets at innocent women and children.” “The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old as this institution… We can waste more time by carrying forward an argument that will not help a single Israeli or Palestinian child achieve a better life…Or, we can say that this time will be different.”

The glories of New Labour (who liked some torture after supper) 22 Sep 2010 Oh my: David Miliband gave MI6 the green light to proceed with intelligence-gathering operations in countries where there was a possible risk of terrorism suspects being tortured, the Guardian has learned. During the three years Miliband served as foreign secretary, MI6 always consulted him personally before embarking on what a source described as “any particularly difficult” attempts to gain information from a detainee held by a country with a poor human rights record. While Miliband blocked some operations, he is known to have given permission for others to proceed. Officers from MI5 are understood to have sought similar permission from a series of home secretaries in recent years.

Hearing the calls from Hoder deep inside Iran  22 Sep 2010 Years ago, in Budapest, I briefly spent time with Iranian blogger Hoder, currently held in Iran and facing the death penalty. It’s a tragic case and highlights the immorality of large sections of the Islamic Republic elite. I was sent the following information via Facebook yesterday and it adds some details to a story that deserves global outrage: Due to the reports of the website Kamtarin about the trial of the famous Iranian blogger and Journalist Hossein Derakhshan, his case has once again become a much discussed issue. Salman, a writer with the website Kamtarin, conducted an interview with Ozra Kiarashpour, the mother of Hossein Derakhshan about her son’s situation: Hello Ms. Derakhshan, thank you for agreeing to the interview with us Hello, I really don’t know what will help Hossein and what will harm him, and the only thing I can do is to pray for him. These days I am really bewildered and so is Hossein’s poor dad. How is Hossein doing psychologically these days? He is extremely overwhelmed and listless. He seems really depressed. He is really tired of being in limbo, being in jail, and being alone for two years. He says he spends most of the day sleeping. He recently requested to at least be transferred to the general ward but instead they agreed to move him to a different and better room, and potted a rose plant for him. Are you able to visit Hossein? For over a year we’ve had routine visitation with him once a week, but during the first eight months of his detention we had no visitation and didn’t know where he was. How do the prison authorities behave during your visitation? It depends on who is there on any particular day but the majority of time they are respectful. There are still some who doubt that Hossein is in Prison and there were even some who were saying that Hossein is staying at a villa in Zafaraniya [a wealthy area of Tehran] where he is helping the government. Don’t you think the reason for these rumors is linked to the fact that you haven’t really dealt with the media? I pray that those people never have to endure the pain that we are going through. During the early months of Hossein’s detention we were very confused, didn’t know what was going on, and didn’t know what we should do. On the one hand, Hossein had requested that we not speak to foreign media. And the domestic media wasn’t interested in us. Even with all of this, Hossein’s father and I wrote a letter to the Head of the Judiciary that was published in a number of places. And once the air cleared a bit, my daughter set up a blog to provide information about Hossein’s situation. These two years have been very difficult for us. Hossein’s father had several cardiac episodes. At the time when they told Hossein that his father had had a heart attack, he wasn’t allowed to use the phone. My child cried so much and blamed himself so much, which was even more painful for Hossein’s father and I. But we didn’t even tell Hossein that his father was upset because half of what upset Hossein in prison has to do with us. You wrote a post for the blog that you said was called “Justice for Hossein Derakhshan,” are you familiar with blogging and with computers? Since my children are often travelling abroad, I have to use the internet as a means of communication. Could it be possible that I know nothing about blogging? The truth is that Hossein used to talk our heads off about blogging. All that we are suffering unfortunately started with Hossein’s blogging. Had Hossein come to Iran by invitation of the government? Hossein had had some conversations with Press TV about working in their Tehran office. Even during the days before his arrest, he would sometimes go to their office since we didn’t have high speed internet at home. Before his return to Iran, the High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad promised Hossein that his trip would be without problem. He had cleared his trip with this Council which is governmental and which is in contact with the Intelligence service. That’s why even though Hossein knew that they would call him to be questioned, he did not expect to be arrested like this and hadn’t told us what to do in case he was arrested. A representative from the Council told us that they pursued his case on behalf of the Council but that unfortunately they couldn’t do anything further. Why are there such splits in the country’s security apparatus? Is Hossein accused of espionage? Absolutely not, I don’t know how these people who constantly accuse Hossein of these things can live with their own conscience. If Hossein is a spy and had a security project, then why hasn’t the documentation for this turned up anywhere? And why wasn’t espionage part of Hossein’s charges? What do you think the Judge’s ruling will be? We can’t do anything about the judge’s ruling except to pray since other than God no one knows what the future will bring. The prosecutor has asked for the severest sentence possible to punish Hossein and to make an example of him. As Hossein’s mother, and not as someone whose family has sacrificed much for the sake of the Revolution, I want to ask why are they making an example of Hossein rather than making a role model of him? He is someone who repented and returned to serve his country and is ready to criticize his past thoughts and actions. Are you making an example to prove to people that repenting is useless? To show that supporting the ruling system will have this outcome? All these years, this family has been a steadfast supporter of this ruling system, and Hossein is one of us. It is not fair that you should punish him so severely for honestly conveying his life experiences over these years. If Hossein is freed, will he leave Iran? Hossein had grown really tired of living abroad and even now to make us feel better he says, I may have been in prison these past two years in Iran but before that I was in prison abroad. Thank you for the interview, we hope that Hossein’s situation is resolved soon

Petraeus believes in forever conflict  22 Sep 2010 Just in case it wasn’t clear, America’s “war on terror” in Afghanistan may last, well, for decades. Here’s Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, quoted in Bob Woodward’s new book: You have to recognize also that I don’t think you win this war. I think you keep fighting. It’s a little bit like Iraq, actually. . . . Yes, there has been enormous progress in Iraq. But there are still horrific attacks in Iraq, and you have to stay vigilant. You have to stay after it. This is the kind of fight we’re in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.

International SOS just here to help refugees  22 Sep 2010 Villawood detention centre in Sydney, run by Serco, remains deeply on edge. Much is outsourced, including the provision of health services, by International SOS. And here’s a job description from the company: Mental Health Nurse – Villawood Location: Sydney Job Code: JRMHNV # of openings: 1 Description THE COMPANY International Health & Medical Services is the leading provider of healthcare facilities management & compliementry healthcare services. Our onsite healthcare clinic is seeking a Mental Health Nurse based at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. THE ROLE * Identify and assess clients at risk * Ensure at risk clients receive appropriate and timely assistance * Ensure high standards of mental health practice * Ensure correct and complete documentation of care THE PERSON * Current psychiatric nursing registration in NSW * Proven experience in clinical coordination/case management * Well developed organisational and communication skills * Computer literacy

Thanks for clarifying, Tel Aviv 22 Sep 2010 Take that Jew-haters, anti-Semitics and dead Palestinians: “Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor said in a statement.

Here’s your future Palestinian state 22 Sep 2010 Nora Barrows-Friedman writes from occupied Palestine that the US and Israeli backed Palestinian Authority is behaving exactly as directed, brutes establishing a police state: “The Palestinian Authority (PA) forces came late at night and started shooting inside the camp,” Shihab said. “They came in, shooting, acting like the Israeli military. They wanted to make the people afraid. Everyone went to the main street and started throwing stones, because people thought they were the Israelis, not the PA forces.” Shihab, who didn’t want to give his last name, is a spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist-Leninist political party, in Dheisheh refugee camp in southern Bethlehem in occupied West Bank. He told The Electronic Intifada that in the last few weeks, the PA’s security services have been waging a campaign of intimidation and violence inside Dheisheh, intent on what he called “destroying the unity and community within the camp.” According to Shihab, on 31 August, PA forces attacked the camp in an attempt to find a member of Hamas hours after an armed attack by Hamas activists on a car near a settlement in Hebron during which four Israeli settlers were killed. Since then, PFLP members who intervened by negotiating with the PA forces to convince them to cease their attack and leave the camp during the subsequent clashes inside Dheisheh, have been summoned to the PA police stations and subsequently arrested and thrown in jail.